Merry Christmas to all!

I don't know where this month has gone. I wish & pray for peace and love for all. I don't know if I will have a chance to get back on before Christmas so, here is a little clip from one my favorite new Christmas movie.

DECEMBER 1, 2009

I am so excited for Christmas. It is my goal to enjoy the holiday season to the fullest! We should be having snow here this weekend! We went out and chopped down our Christmas tree on Sunday. We are blessed with good friends and I had an absolutely wonderful time with my family for our Thanksgiving (re-runs) and Mom's birthday. Our puppies are going to start leaving Saturday thru Tuesday. We will still have the runt for a couple of weeks. I have so much to do and keep up with, it is my goal to be focused and enjoy each moment. No panicing or freaking out. ENJOY THE SEASON and remember the true meaning. * JESUS CHRIST *

Thinking about my Grandparents.....missing you!

I read a note my grandma wrote back in nineteen twenty-three.
Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me. He said,
"Boy, you might not understand, but a long, long time ago,
Grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but I loved your Grandma so."

We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together.
Get married in the first town we came to, and live forever.
But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet, instead
Of her, I found this letter, and this is what it said:

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me.
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be.
But I'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see.
And between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.

I read those words just hours before my Grandma passed away,
In the doorway of a church where me and Grandpa stopped to pray.
I know I'd never seen him cry in all my fifteen years;
But as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears.

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me.
I'll meet you when my chores are through;
I don't know how long I'll be.
But I'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see.
And between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.
Between now and then, till I see you again,
I'll be loving you. Love, me.

Excited about Holiday in Hand

I am very excited about this project that I am working on. It has already been a blessing to me and I can't wait to see the out come. I thought I would be journaling each day but, I think it will be more like December. I am enjoying recalling past stories of Christmas that I had long forgotten. I just would like to thank Jessica Sprague for doing what she does and for allowing me to be a part of this class for free. I will be updating shortly.

Assignment 1 & 2

Assignment 1 Write your

Values and Goals.........

The true meaning of Christmas
Traditions
Family
Joy
Peace
Magical Memories
Fun
Excitement
Enjoying each moment
Christmas tree hunt
Loving each other
Living in the moment


Assignment 2

Commit...........
Find a way to include at least 20 minutes of recording/writing/photographing/savoring/printing/gluing/scrapbooking/remembering/slowing down EVERY DAY in December. This one, I won't lie to you, kind of freaks me out. TWENTY WHOLE MINUTES. I know, right? But it'll be so good, and I'll be doing this right along with you. LOTS of things count toward your tally, and this is a gift that you're giving to you of something that is just about as precious a thing as there is: your time.

So much going on so little time

Well, it's time to catch up. I was sent by my lovely husband to a scrapbooking retreat. My goal, to start my Mom's book of my grandparents that have passed away. It was a successful weekend and I have since scrapped two more pages. I will get pictures and get them posted shortly.

I am so ready to start the whole christmas season. I need to get cleaning and rearranging the house so, we can decorate. You know how that goes it is a task that takes movtivation and I just don't have it! Soon enough.......

I am also starting a Christmas project for me, it is sort of a journaling project about Christmas and the whole season surrounding it. I will be journaling on my blog as a part of that assignment everyday......(this is a part of that commitment piece) I will do my best with everyday. It is called Holidays in Hand. Wish me luck with my commitment and I hope that you are successful with your tasks at hand as well.

November......

I just can't believe that it is already November. I don't know where this entire year has gone. It has been two years that my Grandparent's have been gone. It will be two years that we have been here in Oregon in January. Things are flying by so fast. My kids are growing up before my eyes and I can do nothing to slow it down. I remember the crazy days that I just wished for them to be potty trained or walking etc. I thought oh it will be a little easier then. Nope. Those are the days as hard as they are to enjoy and try to savor. How I long for just one of those days to be here again. I do so enjoy my nephew though. He is a lttle over 2 years old. We sat on the floor and played "CARS" the other night for an hour and a half. It was nice. I wish I would have taken things a little less seriously with my kiddos and spent the extra time to play. I did play but, not like I did the other night. It is so much fun to just be. I am making a promise to myself today. I will stop and play. I will take a little extra time out of my day to stop and play with each one of my kids. Before you know it. They will be grown and won't want to play with me anymore. I am so blessed to have them in my life......I pray that I can bless them!

My BFF bought me MONSTROSITY!!!!!!!

I bet you wish you had my BFF. Anyway, I got a call from her today. She bought me my paper I have been wanting! What a sweetheart. I am so excited to get it!!!!!! I think I will have to get her "THE" scrapping bag for her birthday!
After the week I have had this was such a wonderful surprise! We have been trying to recover from the swine flu. It has really hit us good. Poor Derrick the hardest. This is his second round with the fever. He is never down like this. Always go go go go go! Anyway, I am off to finish cooking dinner.

It's Snowing!!!!!!!!! I am super happy about this because it waited all the way till just before Christmas to snow last year. I enjoy this so much. It will all melt off as we will be in the 60's this week but, it is so much fun to see the SNOW!

No blogging for a bit and the Swine flu!

I have been so busy I forgot all about blogging. This week just flew by. Speaking of FLU!!!!! Someone from church has the swine flu and now I don't wanna go. I really can't afford to get sick! I have respritory issues as well as Derrick. Our regular flu shot will be here next week so, we won't be able to get the H1N1 shot for two weeks after that? :/ I told my Mom to shoot me if I start oinking. I don't want to be sick!!!!!!!! We are going to LYSOL the house.

Coffee is a friend of mine!

Drinking my coffee and trying to get my bearings. I am so tired from this weekend. I scrapbooked Friday, Sat and Sunday night. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to but, I scrapped! Yah! This ended up being my favorite layout. I had so much fun. Trying to build my stamina up for my big scrapbooking retreat! I am so excited. I am looking forward to a good week.

It's time to scrap 7-10 with scrapgal.com ........ This is my first online scrap and I am so excited. Hopefully I can keep up. :)

It is already Friday!!!!!!

I can't believe it is already here. I am excited to be just about done with the homeschooling week. Sheesh, It has been exhausting. When will children learn that all of the fighting won't change the fact that school is school and it has to be done? Anyway, I am thinking about doing an online (scrapbooking)crop. I have never done one but, would love to give it a try. I don't get enough time to scrap so why not! I am reading a new book. Just little short stories about a place and people that I feel my family is being led to. The book is called Hope Rising by Kim Meeder. It is about a ranch called Crystal Peaks. This will be a busy weekend so, I won't post again until after the beginning of the week.

Wake me up when September ends

It has been a difficult month. Do you ever just want to skip the difficult times? I know we have to go through them I just don't feel up to it. I know things will get better, I just wish it would happen now. I am so looking forward to scrapbooking over the next couple of months. I think I will look at pictures to try and make a game plan for some of my albums. Since I used a song as my title I thought I would include the lyrics here.

"Wake Me Up When September Ends"

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

like my father's come to pass
seven years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

summer has come and passed
the innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

ring out the bells again
like we did when spring began
wake me up when September ends

here comes the rain again
falling from the stars
drenched in my pain again
becoming who we are

as my memory rests
but never forgets what I lost
wake me up when September ends

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
wake me up when September ends

like my father's come to pass
twenty years has gone so fast
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends
wake me up when September ends

Scrapbooking

This is a picture of a tree from a few Christmas' ago.

I have a goal. I would like to scrapbook my Grandparents photos and put them in an album for my Mom and Brothers for Christmas. This would be my gift. I think I could finish my album of Rick and I as well. Maybe Larry's album. It is a lot but, I have to get busy and just do it. It is hard to stay focused on just one area. I have so much scrapping to do. To hear someone say they have scrap booked everything is just foreign to me. I have a crate of photos, 1,000+ photos on the computer and hundreds of my Grandparents. I have shoe boxes of my Dad's photos & Rick's family the job seems monstrous. Lord, help me focus on the task at hand. Using my time wisely and efficiently. I am blessed to have all of this. Somewhere, someone has none and desires to have all that I do. Thank you for my blessings.

Oh Friday!

I started an oh Thursday but, it didn't happen. It has been such an exhausting week. We are having some challenges with my daughter! Ugggg....to say the least. I have also been emailing back and forth with my friends daughters donors father. Say that 10 times quickly. I have a friend who's daughter was sick and needed a liver transplant. Many were praying for her, she received a liver that couldn't be more perfect for her and is doing fabulous!
Well, recently the father of the little boy who's liver she received tried to make contact. My friend for personal reasons is unable to make direct contact so, she asked me to make the contact. It has been a really emotional week for us all. I was there to help my friend bring her baby into the world. I cut the umbilical cord. I thought I would have to help her through the loss of a child but, the Lord saved her baby. Another baby in turn left this earth and a family that truly loved him. He was a twin. Mason Curtis Hibbert.

I just have to say this is an emotional thing to be on both sides of this. I am happy to help both families and just hope this helps them both heal in ways that wouldn't otherwise happen. My prayers are for the Petrovics and Hibberts tonight, heal them and bless them both abundantly. Peace to all goodnight.

Oh Monday!

Today started off a little slow.....I just couldn't get it together. Now it's over and I am trying to unwind. I have been really internalizing my stress, I need to set if free but, somehow it just sticks to me. I have hives and I am so itchy! Ugggg! I I I I I I I. Lord, please fix me. I am a broken mess. Give me the ability to give it to you and leave it there. Please touch my little girls heart and let her surrender to you. Relieve me of this weight I carry. I love you, Goodnight.

Sunday, gloomy Sunday,

Nobody told me there would be rain today. I guess it would help if I watched the news. It has turned out to be a nice day anyway. It is cool, I am cozy in my jammies and got in a nap. I love days like this!

........ooooohhhhh, I've got the bug

I want to scrapbook today. I don't see there being anytime to do that. I have Larry coming from Silverton for his day visit. I have to make his special dinner...chicken enchalada casserole. It is my nephews birthday so, we will be off and running to Costco shortly for a little jogging suit I've had my eye on. Hopefully they are still there. Then to Wally-World for a few food items for the day. Hopefully Larry is a little calmer today. The speed of his talking could break the sound barrier at times. We will see. Maybe I will feel up to scrapping after all is said and done. I also am so loving the Boyfriend paper line by Cosmo Cricket. Two thumbs up for them creating a really nice teen boy line. It is the hardest paper to find and with three boys I can't do without it. I lifted this from The GalBlog to show you just how fun this paper really is!!!!!

School is up and running.....

We are finally up and running with our homeschool program. I was rather frustrated with our new teacher. He is a little different (which I don't mind) but, his saleman-ish qualities I DO NOT care for. If you don't have the info just say so, I am so forgiving to someone who tells me the truth. Don't tell me one story (LIE) after another because it ERKS me! Anyway, I have the kids at least working on English and have them doing writing assignments everyday now. I am hoping by Monday they will have their laptops so they can sit at their desks and do all of their school assignments. It is so nice to have peace and order. It is really quite with Derrick at school and now they are busy. SILENCE IS GOLDEN......AHHHHHHHH! I could get use to this. I am currently straightening up my scrap area so that I can scrap, scrap, scrap to my hearts content. I play on scrapping albums for my family for christmas. I would like to do them on my grandparents. This year will be tight so I am trying to find ways to conserve. Plus I get to do what I love and put my heart into it. Anyway, enough for today.

Two in one day......it's unheard of!

I guess you can say I've got a thing for little Granny's. It just warms my heart to see one. I loved and miss mine so. I decided to can for the very first time ever today. I figured that I would search online for a recipe and low and behold. I find this sweet little Granny that gives step by step instructions. I love pictures and each new instruction shows a corresponding picture. I am passing this along as it was a God send to me. Probably my Granny whispering to God, "She needs pictures!"

http://www.paulnoll.com/Oregon/Canning/index.html

Blog, blog, blog, blog.......

I will try to be more faithful at blogging. I can do it. Just need to focus. My friend Jodi is inspiring me to get with it and blog. So here's your shout out Jodi, I love you Sistah!

Song of the moment

Sunset at Pacific City

Oregon Coast

These are our cheeto loving friends.....and our human friends.